


A Little Tighter

by inevitability



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-15
Updated: 2013-10-15
Packaged: 2017-12-29 13:12:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inevitability/pseuds/inevitability
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the end of the world and they're stuck with each other</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

When the end of the world happened, it was just the two of them together. By pure coincidence really, nothing more than that. Nico had never even spoken to Kimi before, had maybe seen him about, but fuck, this is London, who the hell knows their neighbours in London?

Nico's house was small but expensive, expensive even for London. What Nico loved, though, was that it was a house, not a flat. Small and narrow and Victorian, single-glazed, original features. Deeply unfashionable when his father had bought it in the 80s, it was worth a packet now, but Nico wouldn't give it up, not for the world. If the entire of east London happened to congregate there on a Sunday to go to the flower market, well, Nico dealt with that by turning up his radio and drawing the curtains.

Across the street, the big concrete monstrosities of the 70s loomed grey and bland. Mostly rented out to families, a couple of one-beds like Kimi's. There wasn't much to be said for them but at least everything tended to work. Not like in Nico's. Nico had boiler issues, mould issues, electrical issues, drain issues. All the issues that left-field fashionable London had to suffer for its original fireplaces and belfast sinks. 

Kimi hadn't known the world was going to end when he went round to Nico's. If he had, he'd have stayed in bed. Instead, he'd been on his back under Nico's sink, toolbox by his side, prodding around inside the pipes and wondering quite how one man had managed to get so much stuff clogged up in there. It was always the same though, Kimi found. You go round to sort out some skint person's boiler and the house is immaculate. Once house values started hitting the mid-hundred thousands, they were vile. The more art there was on the walls, the more filth there was guaranteed to be lurking. _You'd think they could just get a cleaner_ Kimi thought to himself more than once.

So Kimi had been under the sink and Nico was somewhere upstairs, pretending that there was something pressing he had to do, but really he was just staring out the window. The noise came suddenly. A huge bang, somewhere far in the distance, but strong enough to shake the walls. Kimi smacked his head off the piping, swore loudly and sat up. Nico frowned, and then the sirens started. First sirens, then a mechanised voice telling them to stay indoors, to shut the windows, and not to go out until they were told it was safe. Nico would wonder later if the loudspeakers had always been there, waiting for this sort of eventuality, and if they had been, how had he never noticed them? Kimi just sighed and looked out the window. 300 metres to his flat. He might as well risk it.

He would have risked it too if Nico hadn't come downstairs and asked if he knew what was going on and Kimi bit back the sarcastic comment on his tongue (after all, Nico _was_ paying him; but really, in the seconds since the bang, how on earth was Kimi meant to have gleaned that kind of information?) and shrugged. Nico peered out the window but nothing seemed to have changed except that there was no-one on the street. The same monotonous message played out over the loudspeakers again and again; Kimi replaced the pipes, packed his tools away and was about to leave (knowing, just _knowing_ that Nico was exactly the kind of busybody who would throw his hands up to his face and insist that Kimi couldn't leave, that they'd been told to stay inside) when a riot van swept into the street, a troop of policemen with shields marching out when it stopped. They stationed themselves around the green and Kimi rolled his eyes. So much for leaving.

Nico eyed the riot police balefully, cast a sideways glance at Kimi who scratched at his nose and shrugged again. Sighing, Nico gestured towards the sink.

"Is that going to be ok to use? I can make us a coffee."

Kimi nodded. Yes. Coffee.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been an hour since the bang when Kimi went to the door to try to find out what was going on. He'd opened the door, Nico hovering nervously in the background, quite sure this was a terrible idea, and several of the policemen had rounded on them immediately, machine guns pointing at them, screaming at them to get back in the house if they didn't want their fucking heads blown off.

Kimi had slammed the door shut, shaking his head at Nico in amazement. The radio wasn't working; there was no wifi. And of course, but of course Nico didn't have a television. Kimi was quite sure that if he probed further, Nico would announce haughtily that he didn't _believe_ in television, as though television was something to believe in, some sort of faintly seedy cult, rather than something that you just had in your house as a matter of course. Kimi sat at the kitchen table, drinking endless coffee while Nico fretted at the window, turning his hands over in each other. At least there was food in the fridge, in the pantry too, he'd told Kimi more than once. Kimi had just nodded and sipped at his coffee. Pantry. For God's sake.

The daylight was beginning to fade and though the lights in the house worked fine, the streetlights stayed off. The riot police held their stations. The radio emitted nothing but fuzzy white noise. And Nico and Kimi waited for something to happen.

When darkness had fallen, Nico sighed and looked at Kimi. 

"Should I make something to eat?" and Kimi agreed that that could be nice. Nico rooted through the fridge and said he needed to use up some oysters, they were going to go bad otherwise, so oysters it was, with chips that Nico made in the oven himself and white wine sauce that he made on the stove. Nico poured himself a glass of white wine, asked Kimi if he'd prefer beer, but Kimi shook his head. Wine was good. This seemed like the kind of meal that needed wine, he'd just head upstairs and wash his hands and face if that was ok, and Nico told him to go ahead, that everything would be ready soon but he could take his time.

Kimi washed up, groping blindly for a towel in the small bathroom, and found himself wondering really what kind of person lived in this house? I mean, Nico lived alone, that much was clear. If there was anyone else around, he'd have mentioned them, worried about how they'd get home. Besides, one toothbrush, one razor, one bottle of shampoo. But it was a weird kind of place for a single guy to live in. A bath but no shower; all this spartan, vintagey stuff. Kimi knew it to be fashionable amongst a certain kind of person - the word "university" spiked into his head - but really, it looked like his grandmother's house. If Kimi lived there, he'd tear the whole lot out, make it altogether more practical. And he hadn't even seen the living room, which he could picture right now. Record player. Books. Ornaments. Nico looked like the sort of guy who had ornaments. 

When Kimi clattered downstairs, he found a kitchen filled with steam, which Nico, sitting at the set table, apologised for. It smelt good, really good. Nico divided the oysters between two dishes, chips set on side plates. A bowl in the middle of the table for the shells. 

"Well," Nico said, drawing his chair in, "cheers, I guess." He raised his glass and Kimi met it with his and drank. The whole meal was great, even if Nico wrinkled his nose and said he'd put too much salt in. To Kimi, it was perfect, and when he told Nico this, Nico's face had lit up. It really meant something to him, Kimi could see that, and in a weird way it had touched him. After that, the conversation was easier, and after half a bottle of wine, they both felt more relaxed. It was a weird situation, but once Nico opened a second bottle, they both knew things would be fine. 

There was nothing else to do but wash up, pour another glass and wait for everything to blow over.

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from Apocalypse Now. 
> 
> "Each time I looked around, the walls moved in a little tighter."


End file.
